This blog started off by focussing on NZ's smaller 3rd level airlines, past and present. It has evolved to trying to present some record of NZ's domestic airline operations and some of the larger charter operators, interesting NZ international airliner movements and photos I have taken around the country. Comments, corrections or contributions are welcome, Steve - westland831@gmail.com

28 June 2017

Winter pruning

Jetstar seem to be reducing operations on selected regional routes over the winter months. According to a post on routesonline website which drew its information from comparative checking of the Jetstar reservations system services are being reduced from the 24th of July to the 28th of October.

Services between Auckland and New Plymouth reduce from 20 to 14 weekly flights. (I did my own checking on this to come up with twice daily flights rather than the 9 weekly flights as in the routesonline post).

Services between Auckland and Palmerston North reduce from 27 to 22 weekly flights.

Services between Wellington and Nelson reduce from 3 to 2 daily flights.

I don't think there is anything sinister in this approach - I've noticed at various times changes in the Air New Zealand to match the capacity with demand. It makes good operating sense!And this from Stuff

Budget airline Jetstar has cut back the number of flights between Auckland and New Plymouth, citing a lack of customer demand. A Jetstar spokesperson said the airline had reduced some of its regional flying between mid-July and the end of October to align capacity with seasonal demand in quieter travel months. "Jetstar has operated its full regional schedule of 244 flights a week for the past 16 months without any seasonal adjustments, including 40 flights a week between New Plymouth and Auckland," the spokesperson said. "Following a review of off-peak customer demand Jetstar is reducing some regional capacity on a seasonal basis over three months. "During this period Jetstar will operate 28 flights per week on the New Plymouth-Auckland route." The new schedule would see only two return flights daily. The spokesperson said customers had been transferred to alternative services on the same day as their original booking, but if the alternative service wasn't suitable they could request a full refund. New Plymouth was among five new regional routes announced by Jetstar in August 2015. The move also comes three weeks after the New Plymouth District Council approved a upgrade to the airport's terminal, which is expected to cost between $21.7 million and $28.7m. However, New Plymouth Airport manager Wayne Wootton said the reduction in flights wouldn't affect the upgrade. "These annual fluctuations in flight schedules have been built into our preparations for the new terminal's design," he said. "Normally airlines reschedule every six months. Jetstar have kept their former schedule for 18 months in New Plymouth and their winter schedule will last for three. "Jetstar is bringing a winter schedule into Nelson and Palmerston North too."

OMG - yes letters.... They mean nothing when QLink are using 90% of the Q300 training slots right now. Jetstar literally cannot get the slots to train the pilots to curb their pilot shortage! #JokeStar

All these routes that Jetstar is cutting back services on citing lower demand ...on those same routes, Air New Zealand operates more than double the flights with mostly larger planes at often higher fares per seat, yet is still bursting full most days. So what gives?

Agreed, Air New Zealand's Link flights are heaving. Despite it being winter. Not just on the same routes as Jetstar but even others to smaller places like Whangerei and Timaru. There's been little to no slow down for winter.

With Air NZ regional 49 ATR72/Q300's compared to Jetstar 5 Q300's, Jetstar has only made a slight dent in the regional market, especially considering Air NZ is competing with Jetstar Q300's with ATR72's. Is it economical for Jetstar to continue operating regionally inlight of their reliability and flight/cabin crew problems?